The Buddhist Temple
of Swayambhunath
The most ancient and enigmatic of all the Valley's holy shrines lies 2 km
west of Kathmandu city on a wooded hill.
The establishment of Swayambhunath Stupa goes back to the legendary
beginning of the Kathmandu Valley. The legend says that when the gods
drained the waters of the lake to reveal the Kathmandu valley, the lotus
of the lake was transformed into the hillock and the blazing light became
the Swayambhunath stupa.
(Swayambhunath is a World Heritage Site)

Prayer flags over the stupa of
Swayambhunath. The eyes of Buddha look out in four directions over the
Kathmandu Valley.

Black Bhairab
Bhairab has many arms, rolling eyes and usually one head. He is the most
distinctive tantric form
of Shiva. He wears a garland of skulls and has
skulls in his crown.
He is seen here with a Sankha
(sea shell), Chakra (round weapon), Gada
(stick) and Padma (lotus flower) in four of his six hands.

In Patan a statue
of Garuda -- the half-man, half-bird vehicle upon which the Hindu
god Vishnu travels -- sits atop a high pillar

View of the Himalayas from Nagarkot in
the Kathmandu Valley. Haze obscures all but the higher distant
snow capped
peaks.